by this office that alcohol withdrawn from bond under the act in question can not be used in the manufacture of such articles as per fumery. Respectfully, Messrs. JOHN W. YERKES, Commissioner. Philadelphia, Pa. (T. D. 1050.) Certified copies from list of special-tax payers-Scope of act of June 21, 1906. The act of June 21, 1906, providing for the giving out of certified copies by collectors to prosecuting officers does not affect the operation of the regulations which prohibit collectors from giving out information from their records in any other manner, or from testifying orally in regard thereto. This act simply emphasizes the regulations referred to, and they remain in force with the exception specifically provided for by this act. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., October 12, 1906. SIR: In your letter of the 4th instant, referring to the act of June 21, 1906, amending section 3240, Revised Statutes, and providing for the furnishing of certified copies from the record containing the alphabetical list of special-tax payers in each collector's office to prosecuting attorneys of any State, county, or municipality upon application to the collector, you say that this act of Congress, it is contended by the local authorities, "takes the collector out of the regulations promulgated by the Commissioner not to furnish copies or testify orally respecting official information; that since Congress by an act has given the local courts the benefit of these records thru certified copies, there is no policy to be preserved by which collectors should be restrained or prevented from testifying orally in respect thereto." It is the opinion of this office that the act of June 21, 1906, simply emphasizes the Commissioner's regulations referred to, and that Congress intended not that collectors should be authorized to testify regarding official matters within their knowledge, but to give the prosecuting officers of the local courts the opportunity to present to the courts so much of the information in the possession of the Government as is contained in the record of which a certified copy may be made. The regulations remain in force, there being no reason why a collector should be required to testify orally in court since Congress by the act of June 21 has specified precisely the information that shall be given out from the records of the collector's office. The certified copy provided for is in lieu of the testimony of the collector. Had Congress desired that other information be given out by collectors, that intent would have been exprest in the act mentioned. From an administrative point of view, it would be an unwise policy to allow a collector of internal revenue to be summoned at the will of any prosecuting officer in a State court, and thus prevented, in some instances possibly for days at a time, from attending to the duties of his office. It was this consideration, probably, that induced Congress to pass the law in its present shape allowing certified copies to be made from the alphabetical list of special-tax payers by collectors for the use of State prosecuting officers. Respectfully, JOHN W. YERKES, Commissioner. Mr. HARRY SKINNER, United States Attorney, Greenville, N. C. (T. D. 1051.) Denatured alcohol. Permit to deal in denatured alcohol may be issued to a liquor dealer, but he can not store the denatured product on the same premises in which fermented liquors or distilled spirits are kept or stored. He must either sell the denatured product direct from the distillery at which it is denatured, or from a warehouse in which neither distilled spirits, wines, nor malt liquors are kept. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., October 13, 1906. SIR: I am in receipt of your letter of the 11th instant, in which you state that you are a wholesale liquor dealer, but carry no stock at your present address; that you keep no store, simply an office. You ask if, under the recent law pertaining to the sale of denatured alcohol, you can sell denatured alcohol from warehouse or from dock, provided you secure permit for making such sale. In reply, you are informed that the fact that you are a qualified liquor dealer does not bar you from securing permit to sell denatured alcohol. Permit to deal in denatured alcohol may be issued to a liquor dealer, but he can not store the denatured product on the same premises in which fermented liquors or distiled spirits are kept or stored. He can not store it at his place of business if he keeps his stock of liquors there; neither can he keep it stored in a warehouse not connected with his store or office but in which his stock of liquors is kept. He must either sell the denatured product direct from the distillery at which it is denatured, or from a warehouse in which neither distilled spirits, wines, nor malt liquors are kept. By referring to section 59 of regulations No. 30, being the regulations and instructions concerning denatured alcohol, you will note the class of premises upon which denatured alcohol can not be kept or stored. Respectfully, Mr. JOHN W. YERKES, Commissioner. (T. D. 1052.) Denatured alcohol. Under the act of June 7, 1906 (regulations No. 30), alcohol may be withdrawn from bond, properly denatured, and used in the manufacture of vinegar.-The denaturants to be used in the several industries in which denatured alcohol will be used have not yet been past upon. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., October 22, 1906. SIR: Your letter of the 12th instant to the Hon. Thomas F. Marshall, M. C., in which you ask in reference to denatured alcohol, has been referred by Mr. Marshall to this office for answer. You ask whether or not you can make arrangements to ship alcohol in sealed cars for the manufacture of vinegar at Superior or Duluth. You also ask what is used to "denaturalize" alcohol. In reply, you are informed that under the act of June 7, 1906, alcohol may be withdrawn from bond, free of tax, to be used in the arts and industries and in the production of light, heat, and power, provided it is denatured in such a manner as to destroy its character as a beverage and render it unfit for liquid medicinal purposes. * * This office holds that alcohol may be withdrawn from bond, properly denatured, and used in the manufacture of vinegar. Alcohol intended for denaturation must be manufactured at a regularly registered distillery, constructed and operated in exactly the same manner as are distilleries at which alcohol intended for tax payment is manufactured. It must be entered in bond and the distiller must provide a warehouse for denaturing purposes to which he can transfer alcohol intended for denaturation. You may either set up and operate a distillery yourself, at which you can manufacture an denature alcohol under governmental supervision, or you may secure your denatured alcohol from some distiller who has qualified as a denaturer. By reference to regulations No. 30, Part III, you will note that special denaturants are provided for, said denaturants to be suitable for the use to which the alcohol is intended. In view of the fact that the agents intended for complete denaturation (see section 26 of the regulations) are benzine and methyl alcohol, it is presumed that alcohol intended for the manufacture of vinegar will have to be specially denatured. This office has not as yet past upon the special denaturants to be used in the several industries in which denatured alcohol will be used, but is ready to consider any formula that any manufacturer may wish to submit for the special denaturation of alcohol. You will note by reference to section 30 that there are more restrictions in the case of specially denatured alcohol than there are in the case of completely denatured alcohol, but these restrictions do not add to the cost of the alcohol and are intended simply to safeguard the revenue. Under these regulations you can have specially denatured alcohol shipped to any part of the United States to which you may want it for use in any of the industries in which the law authorizes the use of denatured alcohol. Respectfully, JOHN W. YERKES, Commissioner. Mr. H. O. BARLOW, Gwinner, N. Dak. (T. D. 1053.) Denatured alcohol. Section 99 of regulations No. 30 refers to manufacturers using specially denatured alcohol only. As to manufacturers being required to secure permit and keep a record. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., October 22, 1906. GENTLEMEN: I am in receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, in which you call my attention to section 99 of regulations No. 30, and ask whether said section was meant to refer to persons using regularly denatured alcohol, or whether it refers to persons using specially denatured alcohol only. In reply, you are informed that section 99 refers to manufacturers using specially denatured alcohol only. Manufacturers using completely denatured alcohol are not required to secure permit unless they use as much as 50 gallons a month. (See secs. 75 and 76.) When a manufacturer uses as much as 50 gallons of completely denatured alcohol a month, he is required to secure permit and keep the alcohol stored in a room designated for that purpose, but he is not required to keep any record of the alcohol received and used or the goods manufactured by him. The only conditions under which a manufacturer using completely denatured alcohol is required to keep a record showing the alcohol received and disposed of, are when such manufacturer recovers alcohol and either restores it at his own plant to a condition suitable for reuse or transfers it to a restoring and redenaturing plant. In such cases he is required to keep the records prescribed for manufacturers in Parts IV and V of the regulations. Respectfully, Messrs. JOHN W. YERKES, Commissioner. New York. (T. D. 1054.) Distillers' warehousing bonds. Ruling contained in T. D. 1040 modified.-To what extent surety companies may be accepted on the bonds of distillers. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Washington, D. C., October 26, 1906. SIR: After further consideration of the matter of accepting warehousing bonds of distillers signed by surety companies, where the total bonded liability of the surety company upon the bond of any one distiller may exceed the company's assets, I have decided to modify the ruling contained in T. D. 1040 to this extent: 1. Where a distiller or distilling company operates more than one distillery, a surety company may be accepted on the warehousing bonds of that distiller for the spirits in warehouse at each distillery to an amount not exceeding the assets of the surety company liable to execution. If, however, the distiller has spirits warehoused upon any one of his distillery premises upon which the tax amounts to more than the assets of the surety company, then the surety company will be limited in its bonded obligation for the spirits there warehoused to the amount of its assets, whether the spirits bonded be contained in one or more of the warehouses at that distillery. But the amount of the bonded liability of a surety company at one distillery will not affect the acceptance of its bonds for spirits at another distillery, altho both distilleries belong to and are operated by the same distiller. 2. Transportation or export bonds may be accepted from the surety company even tho the total amount of its warehousing bonds at any one distillery owned by the distiller for whom it is furnishing the transportation or export bond is equal to the amount of its assets. In determining the amount of the warehousing bonds which may be given by a surety company for any one distiller or distilling company, the basis of such determination should be the assets of the surety company liable to execution, as shown by the regular quarterly report of such company required by law to be made to the |